With memories painfully fresh and nerves still raw after the Connecticut elementary school massacre, the nation suddenly turned its attention to a community college campus in suburban Houston on Tuesday afternoon, fearful that another violent incident was shredding any lingering notion of safety in the classroom.

As it turned out, the gunfire that shattered the silence of a normal day of classes at Lone Star College's north Harris County location was sadly routine. Two men became involved in an argument that ended when one pulled a handgun. Minutes later, the other man and a school maintenance worker lay wounded while panicked students dived for cover amid fears of an unfolding homicidal spree.

Those fears quickly faded, but not before scores of police cars and emergency vehicles descended on the school. While paramedics tended to the wounded, as well as a female student who needed attention for a medical event possibly related to the shooting, authorities began to scour wooded areas adjacent to the campus looking for the gunman, who had run away.

Cars driving along neighboring streets were stopped and inspected for the possibility of the gunman hiding inside, and dog teams searched surrounding neighborhoods. Four nearby schools in the Aldine Independent School District were placed on lockdown as a precaution.

A little after 2 p.m., the man suspected in the shooting showed up at Northwest Medical Center. Authorities said he apparently had accidentally shot himself in the hip while pulling or replacing his weapon.

The campus later was reopened.

Harris County sheriff's officials said late Tuesday that Carlton Berry, 22, had been charged with aggravated assault in the shooting. Berry remained hospitalized, the officials said. The conditions of the other person involved in the shooting and the maintenance worker were not available.